Behind the Night
by 2546
Summary: After finally getting the cure for the APTX 4869, Shinichi has just about had enough of evil organizations plotting to find the secret to immortality. Too bad getting involved with Kaitou Kid and his civilian identity only made things worse. Although it might not have been an entirely bad thing, in the end. Eventual KaiShin.
1. Chapter 1

**What am I doing? Who knows? It's like three in the morning and I'm so deep in kaishin hell that I? wrote? something? Sorry I haven't actually written anything proper in like, two years. Hahaha sorry I'm more of an artist than a writer.**

 **So this fic takes place post-Black Organization so Shinichi got his body back and all that. And I'm keeping everything about the org. really vague because I have no clue how things would actually turn out in the series. Really this fic is purely self-indulgent because I just wanted a place to write all my kaishin fantasies down, but I'll try to be as close to canon as possible. I don't know. Have fun.**

 **Warning: Eventual kaito/shinichi (and by eventual I mean really far off), shinichi/ran, kaito/aoko, other canon pairings  
Kaishin is endgame but there's going to be shinran and kaiao in between because it's a canon AU and I really like them so keep that in mind!  
This chapter is pretty shinran heavy oops**

* * *

The hair on the back of his neck stood. Ran was staring at him again. This wasn't the first time, of course. He's caught Ran staring at him multiple times in the past, during class or walking to school, but her gaze was never this intense before.

It really only started when he got his body back and stopped being Edogawa Conan when it was safe enough for Shinichi to be in public again. He didn't know why, maybe Ran was keeping an even sharper eye on him, a lingering side effect to being his older sister for over a year. Maybe she still couldn't believe that he was going to stay for good this time.

Even so, she was really unnerving him. He still felt guilty over hiding his identity to her so desperately, until she could no longer stand his lies and finally cornered him into confessing who he really was to her. Surprisingly, she wasn't surprised at the whole "poison turning him into a child" thing since they knew how eccentric the Professor was, but was instead angrier at the fact that they bathed and slept together. She was really weird sometimes. But even after that, she still saw him as Conan and kept treating him like a kid, which both relieved Shinichi but frustrated him to no end.

He didn't know if the person Ran was looking at was her childhood friend or her little brother, and that was the thing that annoyed him the most.

Finally, he was unable to stand her gaze any longer and turned around to face her with a sigh. "What do you keep staring at me for? Is there something on my neck?"

Ran blinked, unaware that she was caught staring again. "Wha? No, it's nothing, really! I was just thinking…" She shook her head quickly.

"Thinking, huh?" Shinichi repeated. "It's rare for you to be thinking so intensely that you'd stare holes into my head."

"Geez, I was just thinking about tomorrow!" Ran huffed. "You remember your promise, right Shinichi?"

This time it was Shinichi's turn to blink in confusion. What was she talking about again?

Before he could say anything, Ran spoke again. "You promised yesterday that you'd go with me to the dessert café that just opened near the museum!"

And then he remembered. He did promise to go with her, didn't he? He remembered how Ran brought it up during the afternoon break and said she wanted to try it out, since the girls in class were saying that it was a pretty good place despite its recent opening. Then Ran said something about not wanting to go alone because it'd be embarrassing for her for some reason he really didn't understand. He had a case he was going over, so he refused at first, but then Ran said they had good lemon pie there and the rest was history. He could never resist lemon pie.

"Oh." Shinichi said. "I remember now! Sorry there was a murder after school so it completely slipped my mind…" He even tried doing that boyish giggle from when he was Conan, since it always seemed to work on her whenever she got angry.

It didn't work.

Ran looked like she wanted to hit him.

Shinichi backed away for her just in case she really did.

"I'm really sorry, okay?" he apologized. "It's just, I've been getting a lot more cases than usual, and it's not like I can just ignore them, you know?"

Ran sighed. "I know. You wouldn't be Shinichi if you did, after all."

He didn't know what kind of mix of emotions he sensed in her voice at that moment. She sounded sad, but at the same time there was a hint of relief mixed in with some indescribable thing that really bothered Shinichi.

"Ran…"

"I'm glad." she said with a small smile, looking down at the ground rather than Shinichi's face. He couldn't see her eyes, which held so much of the emotion on her face. "I'm glad that you're still Shinichi. Even after everything that's happened, you haven't stopped being Shinichi even once."

There was a moment of silence between them, the sounds of the students around them all fading away as they left for home. The two of them stood at the school gates, and all Shinichi could do was look at Ran, unsure of what to say to her.

He wasn't that different of a person as Conan, was he? Was that what Ran was worried about the whole time? That he and Conan would continue to be two different people in her eyes?

He may have been Edogawa Conan at the time, but he was still Kudou Shinichi all the same. He was always Shinichi before he was Conan, and Ran was his resolve. His purpose. Ran, who cried for him when he couldn't, full of compassion and strength that Shinichi himself couldn't even compare to. It was that kindness that Shinichi wanted to protect, even though he knew Ran could protect herself well enough without him. From being his childhood friend to his older sister, she was still full of that beautiful humanity that never faltered.

It felt like an eternity had passed before he could say anything.

Even now, she hadn't changed from the day they first met.

He let himself smile. "You… haven't stopped being Ran, either."

She looked up, prompting him to go further.

There were so many things that he could say to her, but he wouldn't be Shinichi if he said them, wouldn't he? And then Ran wouldn't be Ran either.

"Well…" He took a glance at the sunset filled sky, and then back at Ran's anxious face. "After all, you still haven't learned from your past habits." he explained, feeling his face warm up. From the sun.

He watched as Ran's face went from surprised to confused. He wondered what she thought he was going to say.

"Like this morning when you put your foot up on my desk." He looked away from her; suddenly finding the bird perched on the branch of the tree very interesting. "You were flashing your pa-"

"Shinichi!" Ran shrieked, face red as a tomato. She pulled down on her skirt violently, almost dropping her bag in the process, as if doing so now would erase the image of her undergarments from Shinichi's memory.

"Wh-What are you so embarrassed for?" Shinichi yelled back. "I didn't look at them on purpose! And besides, they're always white anyways so it's not like I haven't seen-"

Ran yet again repeated his name in mortification, looking halfway between wanting to drop kick Shinichi in the stomach or running away in embarrassment. Knowing Ran, it was probably the kick in the stomach.

The few remaining people who had turned their attention on them had now quickly dispersed, knowing how an angry Mouri Ran was not to be messed with.

"I can't believe I thought you were-! You-! You're the worst!"

Shinichi laughed nervously, quickly looking at his wristwatch. "Wow! Look at the time!" he exclaimed with a bit too much surprise. "I promised the Professor I'd come over after school. Better get going." He turned away to flee while Ran was still shocked enough to let him go, taking one last peek at her red face. "See you tomorrow, Ran!"

By the time Ran had yelled after him, he ran far enough to barely hear the frustration and resignation in her voice.

Some things never change. For better or worse.

* * *

"Aren't you early today?" Haibara raised an eyebrow as she opened the door for Shinichi. Judging from her expression, she didn't seem like wanting to know his reasons.

Stepping in and toeing off his shoes, Shinichi replied, "Thought you'd appreciate me being early for once. The Professor?"

Haibara followed him to the living room. "He's upstairs testing one of his new inventions. Sit on the couch." Shinichi did exactly that as the smaller girl headed towards the kitchen. "Coffee?"

"Black, please." He turned to look at the television that was turned on, most likely by the Professor since Haibara didn't watch it. There was a news report on screen, showing a young news anchor explaining something he didn't particularly care about personally before Haibara returned with two steaming cups of coffee.

"I'll need a sample of blood to check if your body is functioning as it's supposed to." she said as she handed Shinichi the mug in her right hand.

He nodded, taking a large sip from the cup while he watched Haibara move into another room and back out with a syringe in her other hand. He set the cup on the table, taking off his uniform blazer and rolling the sleeve on his right arm up to expose the vein. This wasn't the first time he needed a blood test, since Haibara demanded that she check on Shinichi's condition at least once a week since his permanent return. She was probably still paranoid that the antidote might not have worked properly, since the apotoxin didn't work its intended use on him.

Performing the usual routine when she drew blood, she asked if there had been anything unusual with his body and whether or not he was getting sick more often than before. Shinichi replied to both of the questions with a shake of his head. He hadn't felt any difference and there weren't any lingering signs of being affected by the apotoxin, as if his time spent as Conan were only a long dream.

"The kids didn't come over today?" It was a lot less lively than he was used to at the Professor's place.

Haibara was more focused on the syringe full of his blood to reply immediately. "Yoshida-san had errands to run and Tsuburaya-kun had a doctor's appointment. You know how Kojima-kun is whenever the other two are gone."

Shinichi nodded and continued to drink his coffee. "How are they? I mean, after Conan had to leave."

It was hard to lie about Conan's departure to the Detective Boys, since he had grown fond of them as time passed by. They were heartbroken when he announced that Conan would be "moving back with his family in America." He can still remember how much Ayumi-chan cried and how angry Genta had been.

"They're still as energetic as ever, but they mention you every now and then." Haibara answered, placing the syringe into a small container and on the table. She paused for a bit to drink out of her own cup before continuing. "I think you should tell them."

Shinichi didn't have to ask to know what she was referring to.

"I think I should, too." he said. "Maybe someday."

"Preferably before they find out themselves."

He sighed, agreeing with Haibara.

That was bound to happen as well. They were smart kids, and it wouldn't take much to find a connection between Conan and Shinichi. He knew better than to underestimate children and how observant they could be, along with their ability to connect the dots in a different way that adults could. He knew it how much better it would be to tell them the truth rather than wait for them to find out, which was exactly how it ended up with Ran. And he really didn't want a repeat of that incident.

He looked back to Haibara to find that she had gotten up and left the room without a sound while he was thinking. He frowned. She was so rude sometimes.

Left with only the television, he focused his attention of it instead. The previously calm news anchor was now talking animatedly about a new heist notice from Kaitou Kid which arrived to the police last night.

Kaitou Kid, huh.

It was the first time the moonlit thief had been brought up since he returned to being Shinichi. And he had to admit, he hadn't thought about Kid at all until now. It just completely slipped his mind. A little part of him told him that it was because Kaitou Kid was a part of Edogawa Conan's life, not Shinichi's. There wasn't any reason for him to get involved anymore.

"Are you going?" came Haibara's voice out of nowhere, making Shinichi jump in his seat. He glared at her in response, to which she merely sipped on her coffee. "Well?"

"I'm not going." he said. "I may have gone to a few as Conan, but Kudou Shinichi doesn't chase after thieves."

"Oh my, how sad would Kid be if he heard you say that?" She sounded annoyingly amused, which Shinichi didn't like at all. "I thought you enjoyed his heists."

"They're interesting." he responded begrudgingly, earning a smirk from the little girl. "But not enough for me to go every time there's one. Besides, I don't even know when or where it is this time."

"But you could find out. You're no longer a child, so what's stopping you?"

Shinichi raised an eyebrow in confusion. "Why do you want me to go so badly?"

"I don't. I'm just telling you want you want to hear." she replied enigmatically.

"What?"

Before he could say anything else, there was a loud crash from upstairs. Shinichi didn't have to look to know that it was the Professor. Looks like whatever he was making needed a little more tweaking. Haibara looked towards the staircase with a sigh.

He should probably go home now and apologize to Ran. He rose from his seat, turning off the television with the remote on the table and downing the rest of his lukewarm coffee. "I should go now. Tell the Professor I said 'hi'."

"Goodbye, Kudou-kun. Think about what I said."

He wanted to ask which part, the Detective Boys or Kid, but he had a feeling it was both. He already knew what to do about the actual kids, but Kid himself was a different story. They had developed a rivalry of sorts throughout his time as Conan, and Kid had known his true identity for a majority of the time they knew each other. Conan was the thing that still kept them connected. But now that he actually got his body back, he had no time to go after thieves that returned what they stole. Not when there were real criminals to be caught.

Although despite how much he told himself that, he couldn't get the idea of Kid's heist out his mind for the rest of the day.

* * *

 **I don't actually plan for this to be really serious or dramatic, despite the times where it seems that way. There'll be some semblance of a plot but I want to keep this pretty lighthearted. But who knows maybe things will change since I don't have many things planned out yet.**

 **I hope you enjoyed even though this part wasn't kaishin at all.**


	2. Chapter 2

**It's been about a week since the last update and I discover the downsides of writing a canon AU where I have to attempt to write like, every single significant character. Apologies.**

 **Also about other plot important characters and what happened to them after the org. went down will be somewhat(?) addressed when the time comes. Hopefully.**

 **Again, there's some lightly sprinkled shinran in this part. Just a little bit. Other than that wow, there's plot development.**

* * *

The next day, Shinichi went to go meet up with Ran at the dessert café in the afternoon. He was looking forward to it of course; he barely got to spend time alone with Ran with just the two of them. Although, he was also dreading the possibility that she would still be mad at him for yesterday and would send him straight out of the café with a single kick, no matter how much he apologized last night. There was also the chance that he'd come across a murder, which seemed to happen way too often whenever he decided to leave the house.

He was surprised he made it without a dead body along the way.

Entering the shop, he scanned the room for his childhood friend. Sitting at one of the booths near the far end of the wall, was Ran and…

Sonoko? What was she doing here? And here he thought that she would do anything to give him and Ran a moment to be alone together.

"Oh, Shinichi!" Ran waved him over with a smile. It looked like she wasn't angry anymore, to his relief.

"Hey. Did you wait long?" he settled for the seat across from her, since Sonoko was next to Ran.

Ran shook her head. "Sonoko and I just got here and ordered. Iced coffee and lemon pie, right?"

He nodded his thanks.

Sonoko looked at the two of them with an amused smile, to which Ran looked back with a confused frown.

"What is it, Sonoko?" she asked.

"No, no!" Sonoko waved her hand. "You know just what your husband wants, don't you Ran?"

And there she goes again. Sonoko's weird obsession with his and Ran's relationship.

"Sonoko, it's not like that!" Ran replied quickly, her face turning pink.

"We've known each other long enough to know what our likes and dislikes are." Shinichi cut in. "In fact, I even know yours, Sonoko. You probably ordered one of everything on the menu."

"See! We just know each other well! Don't say weird things, Sonoko!" Ran added, shaking her head quickly.

The smile was still on the young heiress' face. "Right," she dismissed, not sounded at all convinced. "Well, I'm going to go use the restroom. I'll leave you two alone for now." She then winked at Ran for some reason.

"Sonoko!"

She snickered as she got up and headed towards the back of the café.

The moment she was out of sight, Shinichi spoke. Not whine, but spoke.

"Why is Sonoko even here? I thought it was just going to be us." As much as a friend Sonoko is to Ran, she really got on his nerves sometimes. More like all the time.

Ran smiled sheepishly. "She called me this morning and asked if I had any plans for today so I told her I was going to meet with you, but then she suddenly said she wanted to come as well."

Shinichi sighed. He had to wonder what was going on through Sonoko's head at the time.

"Well, there's no helping it." he said.

"Sorry. I probably should have told her no." Ran sighed as well. "I was actually looking forward to it being just the two of us, too…" she murmured.

"Hm? Did you say something?"

"No, nothing!" she flushed. "It's… been a while since we've been out like this, hasn't it?"

He nodded. The last time they went out together, with him as Shinichi, felt like such a long time ago. Sure he and Ran went to lots of places together while he was Conan, but that was a different thing entirely. At that time, Ran still insisted on holding his too small hand while they crossed the road and carried him when she thought he was tired.

He wondered what Ran thought about those moments, when she still believed him to be a seven year old boy who needed a watchful guardian. She was probably embarrassed, even he was at the time.

His thoughts were interrupted by the waitress bringing their orders to the table. He recognized the iced coffee and lemon pie as his, while the parfait was probably Ran's, and everything else that was sugary and sweet… Definitely Sonoko's. That woman had an appetite, that's for sure.

And that was when Sonoko returned, looking a little disappointed at the lack of development between him and Ran, but soon brightened up when she saw the desserts at the table.

He watched the mountain of sugar Sonoko was about to consume as he drank his ice coffee, which was unfortunately, sweetened a tad too much for his liking. He didn't mind sweet things most of the time, after all he loved lemon pie, but he knew when it was too much, and Sonoko far surpassed too much.

But she looked happy, so he forced himself to ignore it.

They ate, and Shinichi was pleasantly surprised at how good the pie was. He also asked Ran for a scoop of her parfait, since she ate it rather quickly and it made him wonder if it was as good as she made it seem. With a huff she allowed him one single bite that was mostly whipped cream, while Sonoko was in the background spouting nonsense that made both him and Ran stupidly embarrassed about.

"That was delicious!" Sonoko cheered when she finally finished eating, stretching her arms up above her head.

"It was, wasn't it?" Ran agreed with her own smile.

"Well?" Shinichi finally asked, casting Sonoko a look. "What was your real reason for coming?"

Sonoko scowled at him, wagging a finger at him as if he were still Conan. "Don't act as if I have an ulterior motive for coming here, Shinichi-kun."

His expression mirrored hers. "But you do. You'd jump at the chance to get me and Ran alone, but this time you insisted on tagging along. You want something from me, don't you?"

And then it clicked. Sonoko coming here, most likely wanting to ask him something, the news report yesterday. And given her distasteful hobbies and interests…

"This has something to do with Kaitou Kid, doesn't it." He didn't even have to phrase it as a question. He knew this was about the thief and Sonoko loved everything about Kid. It wasn't hard to put two and two together.

Sonoko even had the nerve to look impressed at his basic deduction.

She laughed. "Maybe being a deduction freak isn't a bad thing." Shinichi narrowed his eyes. "Yes, this is about my Kid-sama! Oh how I wish for us to meet, for him to realize that there's a true gem in his audience, one that would soothe the burning loneliness in his heart and the-"

Shinichi felt like he was going to throw up the pie he just ate a few minutes ago.

"Wait, Sonoko what about Kyougoku-san?" Ran asked as her friend went on and on about her love for Kid or something along those lines of stupidity.

Sonoko keenly ignored the question-or rather, probably didn't hear the question and continued to gush over Kid, which Shinichi ignored completely. It was still a complete mystery to him how anyone could find even one attractive trait in that annoying guy.

"…And that's why, Shinichi-kun, you _have_ to decipher the heist notice so I could meet Kid-sama!" she demanded, slamming her hands down on the table and making Ran flinch away from her.

Shinichi grumbled. "Why don't you let the police figure it out?"

"And let them catch him? Out of the question!" Sonoko gave Shinichi a look that was akin to complete and utter horror. "And since the little glasses brat went back home, there isn't anyone else who can do it."

Right, Sonoko doesn't know that he was Conan.

She took out a slim card from her purse and slid it across the table. "You live off of solving mysteries, don't you? Ran told me you love solving riddles like these." Her face changed to a haughty one when she noticed Shinichi's eyes move down for a moment to catch a glimpse of the heist notice.

"I thought only the police had copies of the notice?" Ran curiously tilted her head to get a look at said notice.

"It was sent to the police a _nd_ Uncle Jirokichi. I was visiting last night and snagged myself one of the copies." And Sonoko looked extremely proud of herself as she remembered the moment.

Shinichi picked up the card to read. It… wasn't a complete lie that he liked to decode Kid's notices. It had taken him a sleepless night to figure out the Black Star heist, and Kid especially seemed to like making them difficult whenever Shinichi was involved. They were usually fun to solve, and he counted it as a personal win for himself when he did.

Since it was sent to old man Jirokichi, Kid was most likely aiming at one of his gems. He would always send a notice to him along with the police, since he knew how much it pissed the old man off in addition to Inspector Nakamori.

"Are there any gems of some kind being displayed by the Suzuki Corporation during the next few weeks?" he asked, tapping a finger on his chin.

Sonoko looked thrilled that he was going to solve the riddle before looking away to think to herself. "No… Not any that I'm aware of... And the ones Uncle bought haven't arrived in Japan yet." She hummed. "Oh! But there's a display he's been planning next week at the Bell Tree Tower!"

"Why kind of display?"

"Next Wednesday marks the ten year partnership of the Suzuki and Sumino Corporations, so the chairman gave us one of his fancy motorcycles! Uncle wanted to have it displayed at the Bell Tree Tower as gratitude."

Shinichi took in the information quickly. "And is there a jewel of some sort connected to the motorcycle?"

Sonoko paused again to think. "I think there might be…"

"Oh, wasn't it diamonds?" Ran piped in. "I remember I was at your house and your father was talking about it on the phone while we were studying."

Sonoko nodded. "Right! It was diamonds! A diamond encrusted motorcycle! So that's what Kid-sama is after… Oh how I wish he would whisk me off on his sparkling steed…" And promptly began swooning again.

"Sonoko…"

Shinichi paid the other two no mind. A diamond encrusted motorcycle, huh. That didn't seem like Kid's usual targets. The diamonds would be attached to the bike, and they would be far too small for Kid to do his regular checks under the moonlight. Not to mention that Sonoko had just given him the precise date and location for the heist, without even having to check with the rest of the notice. Kid wasn't usually this easy to figure out. If he wanted it to be simple, he would have just sent a card simply stating his intent, not make up a riddle that could mostly be solved from just figuring out the target.

The only thing left was the time, which was going to be at night, like all of Kid's heists. There was also going to be a full moon next Wednesday, which corresponds to the display Sonoko mentioned. And using what he remembered from the weather report, he figured the moon would most likely begin to rise a little past midnight the day prior, so the best visibility would be at 9:00.

So he had the time, date, and place of the heist now.

But why was there still something bothering him? Usually he would feel good about himself after decoding a Kid notice, but all he felt was unease. There was something weird about this. It read like a normal notice, but Shinichi couldn't shake the feeling of something being out of place. He couldn't put his finger on what was wrong about it, but it just felt different to him. Was it just him, or was Kid just losing his touch?

"Shinichi?" Ran's concerned voice tore him from his doubtful thoughts. "What's wrong? You look troubled…"

He tried his best to give her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine."

"Well? Did you figure out the notice?" Sonoko impatiently interrupted.

Shinichi let out an irritated sigh. "Yes. The heist is going to be at nine, probably on the dot, since that's when the full moon would be the most visible. Everything else you already know."

Sonoko cheered in the background while Ran leaned across the table to speak to him in a soft voice.

"Are you alright, Shinichi? You usually don't look this unsure of yourself…" she was using her worried older sister voice now, and Shinichi hated when she did that since it brought back his guilt from being Conan to the point where he couldn't make himself lie when she did it.

"I'm okay, but does the heist notice sound or look strange to you?" he asked in response. He handed her the card.

She took a few seconds to look and read over it, but shook her head. "No, it looks like any normal Kid notice to me..." And then she realized what Shinichi was hinting at and gasped quietly. "Do you think this is a fake?"

"I don't know yet, but there is definitely something suspicious about it." He'll probably have to go to the heist to be sure whether or not it was really Kid's. It was still only a feeling, but as a detective, he couldn't ignore a single uncertainty. If it wasn't Kid, then it would have to be an imposter.

For some reason, he was also a little bothered by the thought of someone pretending to be Kid. He vaguely wondered what the thief _would_ do if it were a fake, but was then interrupted yet again from his thoughts.

"Oooh." Sonoko interjected, finally out of her Kid-induced delusions. "Am I witnessing something special here? A loving moment between the married couple?"

" _Sonoko_!" This time both he and Ran had to yell in vexation, drawing in the attention of the other customers in the café, if they hadn't done so already.

* * *

 **"This is a kaishin fic" I whisper to myself as I continue to write more shinran. And not write Kaito at all.**

 **Maybe I'll update this once or twice a week. Who knows.**


	3. Chapter 3

**This is a little late, but I just wanted to thank everyone for liking and supporting this dumb side project of mine. Thanks for inflating my incredibly tiny ego. I even sat down for an entire week to plan out most of this fic, so apologies on the very late update.**

 **Anyways, it's a Kaito chapter that takes place on the same day as chapter 1. Of course, there's a little bit of kaiao too but nothing too major. Other than that, it's just more plot development.**

* * *

Idly flipping through random news articles on his phone, Kaito let out a tired yawn. The day so far had been especially boring, from Hakuba's temporary return to England to the color of Aoko's panties. Aoko had also been oddly tame with her attempts to take his head off, and as much as he'd like to cause a bit more chaos for her, it wasn't all that fun unless she got real riled up.

He let his eyes wander to an article titled "The Return of the Modern-day Holmes".

He tapped the link and opened a new page, summarizing the recently solved cases of the famous Kudou Shinichi, who recently returned from a large-scale top secret case that was completely kept away from the media. The article detailed his newest case, a murder of a man by his close friend, and how the detective was able figure out the entire case whilst still on the crime scene. The rest of it was praise.

Kaito scrolled down to the bottom of the page, finding more related articles that were mostly on the detective's temporary disappearance.

He, of course, knew of little Tantei-kun's return to being big Tantei-kun. He had also contemplated on whether or not to hold a heist as a bit of congratulation for getting his body back, since it was only during heists that they were able to speak face-to-face. He mostly decided against it however, since it was Edogawa Conan who was the Kid Killer, not the famous Kudou Shinichi. If he knew anything about Tantei-kun, it was that he would choose to solve a murder over a Kid heist. It honestly hurt Kaito's feelings at how little Tantei-kun seemed to care about his wellbeing. It was like their friendship was merely one-sided. Well, if one could call the relationship they had "friendship".

"Hm? What are you so focused on, Kaito?" Aoko suddenly peered over his shoulder, slightly startling him.

She was close enough that Kaito could smell her shampoo. He could feel his face heat up as he twisted away from her as best as he could in his desk. He still tried his best to glare at her. "Don't sneak up on me like that! And besides, it's none of your business what I'm looking at."

Fortunately for him, Aoko leaned back, but not before she got one last look at his phone before it was shoved back into his pocket. "Kudou Shinichi?" She looked confused for a moment before she brightened up. "Aoko knows him! Dad was talking about him this morning."

"The old man was?" This was new to Kaito. He wasn't even aware that the inspector knew of seventeen year old Tantei-kun outside of his disguises.

Aoko nodded. "He was reading the newspaper this morning and it was about how Kudou-kun solved another murder." She then frowned. "Aoko thinks dad doesn't like how much Kudou-kun's in the papers. He was in a bad mood about it all morning."

That would explain how quiet Aoko had been this morning. He knew it had something to do with her father somehow.

"Well, if he's anything like Hakuba then he's got a good reason to complain." Kaito huffed. "One arrogant detective is enough."

"Don't say that about Hakuba-kun! He's a good detective and I'm sure Kudou-kun is as well!"

He rolled his eyes. Why did Aoko have to defend Hakuba so much? Why didn't she ever defend Kaito?

She continued. "And, if Kudou-kun and Hakuba-kun worked together with Dad, then Kaitou Kid would be caught for sure!" She ended her sentence with a beaming smile, one that made Kaito's chest tighten up in all too many ways, both good and bad.

He forced himself to keep smiling despite the image of Tantei-kun and Hakuba meeting and plotting his doom being enough to give him goose bumps.

"Oh my, wouldn't that be unfortunate?" A smooth voice cut in. "I would be quite troubled if he were caught."

Kaito turned away from Aoko to meet with Akako's beautifully creepy red eyes.

"Beautifully creepy" pretty much described Akako's entire person, honestly. Although lately it was more of the creepy rather than the beautiful.

"You shouldn't let Kid deceive you like that, Akako-chan! He may not be dangerous, but he's still a no good criminal!" Why was Aoko always so passionate about Kid in this way? Why couldn't she be like anyone else and like him? It would certainly make the inevitable reveal a whole lot easier if she did.

Akako chuckled. "I believe he's more of a child seeking attention, if anything. It's quite endearing, don't you think?" Her playful gaze shifted to Kaito, who only narrowed his eyes in response.

"Kid's a man of art." Kaito pointed out. "He'll never let himself be caught, not even by the famous Detective of the East." But he was damn close to on multiple occasions.

Aoko was close to pouting as she crossed her arms. "If only Kudou-kun would go to the next heist... He'd catch him for sure!"

Kaito only laughed dryly.

"Speaking of a heist…" Akako began, keeping a careful gaze at Kaito. "Wasn't an advance notice sent to the police last night?" She was speaking to both him and Aoko, but the question itself was aimed at him.

Wait, what? He didn't send any notice last night. Sure he was planning a few in the back of his head but he didn't have any real plans for one. Maybe it was just some store trying to increase their sales by using his name again or something. Probably not even that big of a deal.

But Aoko seemed to know about it too. "Yeah… And Dad left in the middle of dinner for it too…" She turned to Kaito, tilting her head at the other's complete confusion written across his face. "What's wrong, Kaito? You're usually the first person to know about a Kid heist, didn't you hear about it?"

Kaito blinked and shook his head quickly. "Whoops, I was watching a magic show last night so I had no idea!" He even laughed a little at the end for good measure. It wouldn't be good if Aoko got suspicious or started questioning him about the heist he was supposed to have.

Aoko sighed. "You say you're a fan but you barely even keep up with the news."

"But for hating Kid so much, you sure know a lot about what he's up to." He grinned back.

She sputtered excuses back at him, full of scathing insults and other unpleasantries regarding his night job. He gave her an amused laugh.

He still felt Akako's eyes on him and he knew she realized that he didn't send out anything as Kid, and that he had no idea that someone had sent a note to the police claiming to be him.

"Kuroba-kun." she interrupted effortlessly, putting a perfectly manicured hand on his shoulder. "May I speak with you in the hall?" Though it was her question her tone made no leeway for a refusal.

So Kaito nodded and got up from his desk, telling Aoko it was only going to take a few minutes and followed the witch outside into the hallways.

"So," he let the vowel drag on. "What did you want to talk about?"

Akako's calculative face immediately turned serious once she slid the door closed and turned back to him. "I'm giving you a warning, Kuroba-kun."

He feigned ignorance. "What are you talking about?"

"The fake heist. Don't do whatever you're planning to do about it."

"I've told you a hundred times already that I'm not Kid." He rolled his eyes at her. Like any of her crazy mumbo jumbo is going to stop him from doing something about it.

"The heist will take place on the night of a blue moon and its light will only lead you into the serpent's jaws." she stated. "Don't go."

"Serpent" was all he needed to know.

"Really, Akako, you should stop with all this nonsense talk. I don't have any idea what you're talking about." He shrugged away from her. "Whatever you're trying to say here, it doesn't mean a thing to me." Meaning: he's definitely going to go now that he has a clue to who's trying to bait him here.

She looked like she wanted to put a curse on him, and he was a little scared that she might actually go through with it in order to stop him from going to the heist. "Fine. The moonlight will only lead you to trouble this time." she continued. "However… It appears that another familiar light will be burning just as bright that night."

This time Kaito actually had no idea what she was trying to imply here. He merely stared at her with wide eyes.

"And…" Her face lightened up slightly as her lips curled with a hint of amusement. "If you insist on going, then I'll warn you about the Demon of Light's return as well." Demon? Light? "I wonder which light will shine brighter on you, the moon or the Demon's?"

Demon of Light? What is that supposed to be? He really had no clue, but it felt like he had heard these words from the witch before. He couldn't point out where, but something about a Demon of Light returning felt synonymous to something else he's been hearing about recently. Maybe it was just his imagination.

"What do you-"

"At least, that is what Lucifer told me. May Lady Luck be kind to you on your endeavors." Akako hid another creepy smile behind her hand, laughing softly. And with that, she turned on her heel and returned to the classroom, Kaito trailing slowly after.

He could never fully understand what went on in that mind of hers, but he was glad that she was a friend rather than a foe. And he had to admit that she was actually pretty helpful this time around.

The rest of the day passed quickly as he filled his head with various questions and plans about the fake Kid heist. He should talk to Jii-chan about it as well, preferably sooner than later.

When school finally ended, Kaito hastily headed out the classroom, only to be intercepted by Aoko as she grabbed his arm.

"Wait, Kaito!" she frowned. "Weren't we going home together?"

He sent her an apologetic grin, carefully shaking her arm off. "Sorry, Aoko. Jii-chan said something came up so I was going to head there instead of home…"

"Then Aoko will go too. Jii-san would appreciate more help, right?"

No, he definitely wouldn't. Not when it's about Kaitou Kid.

Kaito stuck his tongue out. "Too bad. He asked for me, not you."

Her frown turned into a pout, and Kaito wanted to hit himself for thinking it was even remotely cute when he had other priorities right now. He sighed. "It'll be fine with just me. I'll call you if something comes up."

Aoko nodded slowly, however still looking unsatisfied with his response. "I guess Aoko will go home with Keiko then. But Kaito!" She jabbed a finger into his chest, surprising him. "Don't cause any trouble for Jii-san okay? Or else you'll see another mop to the face!"

He rolled his eyes playfully. "Yes, mother, I promise."

Aoko huffed, but said nothing more as she turned around and walked back towards Keiko. Akako was still in her seat, sending Kaito a look that was amusement mixed with vague concern. It still creeped him out whenever she showed any emotion other than the default "You're like a bug struggling under my feet and I think it's hilarious" she always had. Instead of ignoring her, he waved to her out of courtesy for earlier today, and then bolted out the room and straight to Blue Parrot.

If his own instincts and what Akako warned him about were right, then he'll have to be prepared for this, if he's going to be walking straight into a trap this time. He's going to need a lot of sleeping gas.

* * *

 **I love Akako why do people not write her more. I love all of the Ekoda kids, actually, despite how difficult it is to write them compared to the DC characters.**

 **Next up is the long awaited heist and the single thing everyone's been waiting for.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Here it is. The heist. I want to say the kaishin train is finally leaving the station but that would be a lie. It's more like it isn't even close to starting yet. But, hey, at least they actually talk to each other in this part.**

 **This was actually the first thing I ever wrote for this fic but I ended up editing it a bunch.**

* * *

It was only half an hour before the time stated on Kid's heist notice and the taskforce was as lively as ever. Shinichi let himself lean up on the wall, watching as Inspector Nakamori spouted orders left and right with exaggerated hand motions. The inspector seemed extremely irritable today, and even kicked Sonoko out when she tried barge her way through security. There had been a lot of yelling, and she only left when Ran finally convinced her to give up, but not before the young heiress jabbed a finger into Shinichi's chest and demanded he catch Kid for her. Shinichi had responded halfheartedly and tried to shoo her away. Both her and Ran left after that.

Inspector Nakamori didn't seem pleased with him being there either since hadn't been at a Kid heist as Kudou Shinichi before now, not counting the few times Kid had been disguised as him. Luckily, Kid made an alright impression, along with Shinichi's connection to Conan, and he was allowed in as long as he didn't make things more troublesome for the police.

With the extra time and nothing to do, Shinichi relayed the heist information in his head.

The time of the heist is precisely 9:00 PM sharp, held in the Bell Tree Tower owned by the Suzuki family. The target is a motorcycle, specifically a diamond encrusted motorcycle, formerly owned by the chairman of a company partnered with the Suzuki Corporation. It was to be displayed in the Bell Tree Tower to celebrate the ten year long association between the two companies. That is, until Kaitou Kid decided it was going to be his next target.

However, what bothered Shinichi was the heist notice itself. It was only a few days since Sonoko showed him a copy of the notice, but the suspicious feeling had yet to disappear. It looked like any other note that Kid would have written, but there was something about it that didn't seem right. Even when Shinichi was figuring out the riddle, it felt like something was lacking from it. It looked and sounded like one of Kid's notices, but it lacked the playful feel that Shinichi usually felt when he was decoding its puzzles.

Not only that, but it seemed like even the taskforce could tell this was unusual too, if their frenzied planning was any indication. If it were any other Kid heist, they would have been double checking for any possible escape routes by now.

There was something odd going on, and Shinichi was going to get to the bottom of it.

He looked down at his wristwatch. Still enough time to check things out before the allotted time.

It was easy enough to sneak past the police and into the more closed off sections of the area. Rather, it was easy enough to walk through, with the police in its current state. Slowly, he inspected the various possible locations Kid could escape or enter through. He went through the layout of the tower in his head as he walked. The motorcycle was displayed at the top floor of the tower, in the observation deck, meaning that the only way of getting down to the exit on foot was through the elevator and the emergency stairwell, both going to be well guarded. Alternatively, breaking the windows of the deck was plausible as well, if not difficult. There was also the aerial advantage of jumping from the top floor.

Deciding the elevator would be too risky for a thief, Shinichi took the stairwell up to the top floor, noting how the lack of lighting and security cameras would make a perfect place to switch disguises if needed. The police were beginning to set up guard, but it would be easy enough to render them unconscious with a spray of sleeping gas if they were to ever get close enough to Kid in order to apprehend him.

Slowly, he pushed through the emergency fire doors that lead to the observation deck. Unlocked, which he noted could also benefit Kid's escape.

The entire floor of the observation deck was surprisingly dark and empty, any of the natural light long gone from the setting sun. The only light turned on was the special spotlight above the motorcycle itself, making the clusters of diamonds on its various surfaces shine with a sparkle that vastly surpassed the panorama of the city lights below the tower.

As a precaution, Shinichi took out the glasses he had used as Conan and switched them on. True the tower layout he saw earlier, he could see the motion sensor lasers on that were set up in the deck. That would explain the lack of security. It would be a problem for too many people to be up here at once. With precision, he made his way over to the motorcycle display where the sensors were turned off. He switched off the glasses and tucked them back in his suit pocket.

It was exactly like what Sonoko had told him previously. It was an incredibly expensive model, yet also efficient and fast. If it weren't covered with diamonds, then Shinichi himself wouldn't mind taking it for a ride.

Not that he would take this particular one.

The diamond encrusted part of the bike was pretty tacky too. Definitely not meant for riding. Despite being well off himself, Shinichi really didn't understand the whims of the wealthy, unlike his frivolous parents. His mom would probably love this bike.

He paused in his observation of the vehicle. There was something odd about how it looked, especially the diamonds. From afar, they seemed to shine brightly, a common characteristic of diamonds. However, up close, they looked far too clear. The refraction of the light looked a little off as well. Meaning that these were…

"A fake, right?" a voice cut through the silence.

It was a voice Shinichi was far too familiar with. He could recognize that teasing lilt anywhere. He took his gaze off the bike to the source of the voice, who was standing a few meters away from him and the display in all his white suited glory.

"So you already knew." Shinichi stated rather than asked, gesturing to the fake gems with a jerk of his head. Of course Kid would have already known before coming here. But what was the heist notice for then? Unless the true reason for the heist was…

"It seems like you figured it out. The true purpose of the heist." Kid grinned, casually strolling towards him and the bike, dodging past the motion sensors with ease and grace.

Of course he would have memorized the positions of the sensors. Smug bastard.

"By the way," the thief gave him a quick once-over, which made Shinichi's skin crawl. "Congrats on the growth spurt." He even winked. What the hell.

"Thanks." he replied disdainfully, while Kid stopped at the other side of the motorcycle. "…Who would go through the trouble of recreating an entire heist just to catch you, though?"

"Oh, I could think of a few people." Kid responded calmly as he performed his own inspection of the motorcycle from the side opposite of Shinichi.

"So you knew it was a trap, yet you still came anyways."

"I have an audience to please." Kid looked up from the bike directly at Shinichi. "Not to mention, you came as well. Were you worried about me, Meitantei?" The conceited grin came right back in full force.

Shinichi scowled, trying not to sputter stupidly. "I was worried about the target!" Mostly. "It didn't seem like your usual thing, so I was worried about what was going to happen to it! And the police were really frazzled tonight, which made me more doubtful."

"I noticed." Kid's grin toned down to something a little more solemn. "I've been here for an hour already and it's five minutes until the scheduled time but they still haven't noticed anything yet."

Five minutes? Had time passed by that quickly while he was thinking?

"So what are you going to do about the fake?" he asked, regaining his composure. "Still going to steal it?"

Kid shrugged before pulling down his top hat. "At this point, I might have to. Someone's trying to bait me, but the police still need to know it's a fake."

Shinichi remained silent, staring at the fake diamond bike as if it could answer all the questions both he and Kid had. Other than the diamonds, was there anything else about the bike and its production that could hint to whoever set up a fake Kid heist?

Well, there was something. A small rectangular shaped crevice in the metal of the bike, uncovered by false diamonds. Shinichi was so distracted by the fakes and by Kid, that he didn't even notice the out of place opening until he really looked at it. He wanted to hit himself at such an amateur mistake.

It didn't look like Kid had noticed it either, so it was only Shinichi's side that had the weird looking slot. Looks like it's both their faults this time.

"Hey Kid, there's something here that's not supposed to be on a motorcycle." He moved his hand, pointing at the strange opening as he looked at Kid. "It looks like-"

There was a metal click. Shinichi felt something around his wrist.

Both he and Kid looked down.

There was a single handcuff around Shinichi's right wrist, extending from the earlier mentioned opening.

"Wh-what the-!?" he exclaimed, pulling his wrist away, only to find that the chain of the handcuff was connected to the bike itself, giving only a few inches of leeway. Was this what was planned all along? Was Kid supposed to steal the bike, only to discover that the bike itself was the trap?

Only that it was Shinichi that fell into it.

And Kid had the nerve to look amused.

"Looks like Meitantei got caught this time." Kid snickered loudly, a gloved hand covering his mouth. "Oh how I wish I had a camera right now, your face is hilarious."

Shinichi could feel his eye twitch. "Ha. Ha. Ha. Laugh it up." he grumbled as he tried to pull away from the handcuff. He really wished he had his soccer ball belt so he could kick the damn thief off the tower. "If you have time to laugh then get me out of this. I don't have anything to pick the lock and I'm sure you do."

"I do," Kid confirmed, still smirking. "But what's the fun in just letting you out?"

"Kid…"

"Just let me keep this in my memories for a little while and I promise I'll-" Kid stopped mid-sentence, smile wiped completely off his face and quickly replaced with a grave expression. Just as fast, he leaped over the bike and moved behind Shinichi, spreading out his cape with one hand.

Shinichi only gave Kid a confused stare at the sudden change in atmosphere. He was about to question him before the thief raised a finger to his own lips. Shinichi remained silent.

Then, he heard just what exactly had made Kid so startlingly serious.

Footsteps echoed from the emergency stairwell Shinichi took earlier. Not just one pair of steps either, multiple.

Heavy, slow, calm.

Definitely not the police.

The footsteps drew closer. Kid stayed behind him, unmoving.

Shinichi didn't have to look back to know that this was trouble.

* * *

 **Sorry it's a cliffhanger. Thanks for reading anyways.**

 **(If you realized what I'm trying to build up here in parallel to something else, then good job.)**


	5. Chapter 5

**Congrats to those who knew that I was paralleling Toichi and Chikage's first meeting that was actually the only reason why I started this fic to begin with. Does that mean it's going to turn out the same way? Read to find out.**

 **On another note: writing is hard.**

* * *

The footsteps were getting louder, and Shinichi could only remain frozen when they became loud enough for him to know that they were only a few meters away from the display he and Kid were standing at.

Now that the steps were louder, he could estimate about how many people there were and their physique. Heavy and uniform steps, belonging to a group of men, most likely about five but no more than ten. Well built and well organized too. Too many for Shinichi to handle on his own. Maybe too many for both him and Kid.

Time seemed to stop entirely as the footsteps finally ceased. Kid was still behind him, silent as ever. The only indication of him even being there was from the faint body heat that Shinichi could feel through his suit.

"End of the road, Kid. You can't escape this time." a low, rough voice echoed through the room, along with the familiar click of a gun.

"Snake." Kid's voice was as calm and collected as ever, not even sounding slightly nervous or afraid. Shinichi felt him turn around to face the mystery voice. "It's been a while. I see your mustache is as distasteful as always."

Snake. A codename? Kid seemed quite familiar with him, so something like this must be a common occurrence. Shinichi wished he could turn around to see what was happening rather than just listen, but he decided against it when he noticed Kid spread his cape out a little more, probably trying to prevent him from being noticed.

Snake growled angrily. "I finally have you now Kid. You have no chance. One move and you'll be shot full of holes."

Kid sighed dramatically. "Haven't you learned anything from your past failures?" he lamented. "One of Thurston's three principles: never perform the same trick for the same audience."

Shinichi didn't know if he should be angry at Kid risking his life to be a cheeky bastard, or that he mispronounced Thurston's name again. It was a little of both, honestly.

"I should be saying the same thing to you. None of your old tricks are going to work again." Snake even laughed sinisterly for good measure.

Kid chuckled. "I am a magician. I never perform the same tricks twice."

Shinichi wanted to roll his eyes at the blatant lie. He's been through too many of Kid's heists to know that he always used the same tricks, but knowing how the task force always fell for them, he honestly didn't blame the thief for repeating them.

Suddenly he felt a light pressure on his back, tapping rhythmically. Was that Kid's hand? What the hell was he doing, fooling around at a time like this? Shinichi was about to slap the offending hand away until he recognized the quick taps of "on" and then "bike" in tap code. Simple, but understandable. A good choice.

"Get. On. Bike." was what Kid had tapped on his back. He was still handcuffed to it, so he might as well, if Kid actually had a plan here. After Kid's second attempt at tapping the message, Shinichi had slowly gotten on the motorcycle as stealthily as possible. Luckily, Kid was a good distraction for Snake and whoever else was still in the room.

"This time I'll get rid of you for good." There was another click of a gun, followed by a few others, meaning that they were all aiming at Kid now.

Shinichi gripped the handle of the bike harder.

"Well, well, well." Kid said, and from the tone, Shinichi could literally picture the grin the thief had on his face now. "We'll see about that."

There was only a split second of silence and before Shinichi could even blink, Kid had moved to sit behind him on the motorcycle. For a moment, his vision was concealed by a slight weight atop his head, which he instinctively moved it to accommodate his sight. Kid's top hat.

Before he could process what was happening, the bike's engine rumbled and Kid's arms went around him to hold the handlebars.

"Hold on tight, Tantei-kun." was the last thing he heard before the sound of the revving engine and gunshots filled his ears as the bike moved.

Not like he could do anything else but hold on.

Kid drove the bike at top speed, zooming across the metal floor of the observation deck as Snake and his lackeys shot a spray of bullets that missed its target just seconds too late. Snake yelled something that was muffled from the sound of the bike engine as more bullets were shot.

The thief was driving rather erratically, and when Shinichi tried to focus his sight on Snake and his men, all he could see was a blur of blacks and grays under a faint pink tinge. He tried to focus on what that pink was, along with the out of place smell of roses, but he felt Kid move for a quick moment to push the top hat down lower before he could think about what it was. It wasn't really much of the time to do so either, with them being shot at and all.

Instead, Shinichi tried to think about how Kid was going to get them out of this situation.

There were only two possible escape routes from the top floor. The elevator and the stairwell, both out of the question in this case. Unless…

It was unlikely, but if it were Kid, then he just maybe could pull it off.

And judging by the speed they were going at, it seemed like Kid was going to do exactly that.

Kid revved the engine once more as they approached the large glass windows. Shinichi braced himself as much as his adrenaline fueled body could allow him too.

There was a loud crash as Kid drove right through the window and out of the Bell Tree Tower itself.

Shinichi closed his eyes as he felt the shattered glass fly around them, and soon, they were falling.

"Kid! What the hell were you thinking!?" he shouted as loud as he could through the wind and falling glass to the thief, who didn't look shocked at all from falling out an over a hundred meter tall tower. Not like that was anything new, the guy probably did this stuff for fun.

Kid beamed widely at him. "Great idea right?"

"No! Not a great idea, you idiot!" he shot back sharply.

Just when he was going to say something else to insult the lunatic, a sharp pain in his right arm reminded him that he was still handcuffed to the motorcycle, which fell along with them. The heavier motorcycle was subjected to gravity and it pulled down of Shinichi's arm with a great force. He almost thought it would take his arm out.

He winced. At this rate, the bike was going to pull him down with it, if he couldn't get out of the handcuff.

But suddenly, he felt Kid's arms wrap swiftly around his waist, making him tense up and flush from the abruptness of the contact.

"What do you think you're doing?" he hissed, using his free hand to push the other out of his personal space. The air around him felt colder than usual, but he was still too warm. "Let go!"

"Hold still for a bit." was the other's only reply.

"Hold still!? We're literally free falling right now!"

But then Kid's hand was on his face, thumb softly stroking his cheek in a straight and fluid line. It made Shinichi hyper aware of how smooth the silk of Kid's glove was and how cool his hand was in comparison to Shinichi's face, which felt like it was burning.

"What are you doing?!" He could barely get the words out of his mouth.

"Hm. Looks like you got cut from the glass." It was ridiculous how Kid's voice was still so clear despite the sound of rushing wind. "It doesn't look too bad, but you should put a bandage on it."

Shinichi barely heard a word he said.

It was also ridiculous how the white of Kid's outfit made him shine against the darkness of the night. It was too bright. Not even the neon city lights were as bright as Kid was right now.

This was ridiculous. This whole thing made Shinichi was to curl up and die of embarrassment. What was he even thinking?

Forcing himself to calm down, Shinichi scoffed, looking at the thief's red tie rather than his face. "If you're that worried about a simple cut, why don't you worry about my arm about to get ripped from its socket?" Which was the more important thing at the moment. It's unbelievable how easily he got distracted from it.

"Already dealt with." Kid answered smugly, pulling down on the rim of his top hat. When had he taken it back?

"What? When did…" Shinichi blinked. He moved his handcuffed hand to discover that it had already been freed. He didn't even notice the weight from the motorcycle had disappeared either. Something was definitely wrong with him today.

"Never underestimate a magician and master thief, Meitantei." Kid winked at him through his monocle as he adjusted his hold on Shinichi. "You better hold onto me if you don't want to fall."

Kid opened up his glider and let their bodies be carried by the wind while the abandoned bike plummeted to its untimely end.

Shinichi let his gaze follow until the bike fell far enough down to become a small dot against the lights. "I hope there wasn't anyone down there…" he muttered. Especially if Ran was there. He really hoped she was alright.

"Don't worry. I had my assistant take care of things on that front." Kid gestured to a small communication device on his ear that Shinichi hadn't noticed before. "Everyone in the vicinity has been evacuated safely."

The detective let himself relax a bit, letting his arm rest on the thief's shoulder. So Kid really had planned for something like this to happen. He had to admit, it was quite brilliant to have planned that far ahead. The fake heist. The trap. The man who went by the name of Snake.

And about Snake… He's never heard of Kid having someone like that out to catch him, and the way he and his lackeys shot recklessly at them meant that they were really after Kid's life. Kid also knew him, which meant that Snake had appeared during previous heists, but such a man had never been at the heists Shinichi had gone to. What did Kid get himself into, to gain such an adversary? And how many times had this happened before?

"…ei-kun? Tantei-kun?" Kid's voice snapped him out of his thoughts. "Hey look, I know you're in detective mode right now and you're probably thinking about what had just happened but-"

"Kid."

"Yes?"

"I expect an explanation, you know." Shinichi looked up sternly.

He watched as Kid's face seamlessly slipped into the usual mask he wore when he dealt with the police. "Isn't a detective's job to figure things out themselves?"

"It's also a detective's job to catch criminals but you don't see me trying to arrest you right now. I'm not asking you as a detective, I'm asking you as…" Shinichi trailed off. As what? What was Kid to him? They weren't just thief and detective anymore; they've helped each other countless times in the past. Friends? Could their relationship be considered as friendship?

"As?"

Shinichi shook his head. "Nevermind. They were trying to kill you, you know. Isn't that a good enough reason to ask?"

"It's not surprising for a thief to have a few enemies." Kid responded simply.

"But you're not a common thief." Shinichi's reply was immediate. "You return everything you steal and you make sure no one gets hurt during heists, so why would you have people after your life?"

He watched as Kid's mask slowly slipped away and the thief refused to meet his gaze, seeming to focus more on flying than on Shinichi's prying.

Kid sighed deeply. "You detectives are always so nosy."

"The truth is all I want." Shinichi answered. It was what he truly believed in.

Kid shifted his eyes to the scenery below them, his audience only tiny little specks of color from the altitude. "Maybe it's better if people didn't know the truth." He said carefully.

Shinichi narrowed his eyes at him. "People deserve to know the truth no matter how harsh or unforgiving it may be." It was something he knew more than anything else. He stared hard at Kid's face, tracing over the shadows and how they made Kid's features look indescribable despite the closeness of their faces. "I can't understand why people would resort to killing for any reason, so I want to know why someone would want to kill you."

He watched as Kid's face softened into something more normal rather than the stiff and foreign face he made before. "I…" Kid stopped, gathering his words. "I can't tell you everything. It's not that I don't trust you, but it's complicated."

To Shinichi, any amount was enough.

"That's fine." he said, letting a tiny smile settle on his face. "After all, it's more mysterious that way, isn't it?"

Kid laughed, finally back to his usual self. "It is."

And they continued flying into the night.

* * *

 **And that's the quick conclusion of the heist featuring no kisses. What a shame.**


	6. Chapter 6

**This is very unsatisfactory to me, but I really don't want to work on it anymore so I'm sorry? This is just merely more plot and really dumb stuff. Not much else to say.**

 **By the way Kaito refers to Shinichi as both "Tantei-kun" and "Meitantei" here because I have no idea why he keeps using different nicknames, but I use them interchangeably here.**

* * *

This was awful. This was terrible. This was the worst.

Kaito laid his head pitifully on the bar counter of Blue Parrot as he recalled yesterday's events.

The fake heist was a trap set up by Snake, in an attempt at his life. It was just like what Akako said. But that wasn't even the problem here. Worst of all, Meitantei was there. The witch's so called "Demon of Light".

He can't believe he was so careless. He didn't even account for Tantei-kun's reappearance at the heist. The detective could have gotten himself hurt, or even killed, if it weren't for Kaito's quick thinking. Not only that, but there was also the possibility that Snake saw Tantei-kun's face, even when Kaito tried to hide it with his hat.

And to add to his growing list of problems, Tantei-kun wanted answers. He couldn't lie to him, he owed the other that much at least, but he couldn't tell the truth either. He couldn't put anyone else in any more danger, and yesterday was clear evidence of that. It was his fault that Meitantei got caught up in the situation and now his life could be at risk too. And just when he was getting back into life as a not-so normal seventeen year old detective.

"Young Master Kaito…"

"Jii-chan." Kaito lifted his head up to face Jii-chan, who was looking worriedly in Kaito's direction. He stopped himself from letting his head hit the counter again. "You saw the news report too, right?"

Jii-chan nodded.

The report on the Kid heist was the first thing Kaito read in the morning before school and the first thing Aoko talked about when they met up. It covered the basics of the heist, from the fake target to the note he sent in last night informing the police that it wasn't him who sent the initial notice. Apparently, Snake and his men weren't caught after his escape either, judging from the lack of shady characters in the news report. They must have somehow escaped, but hopefully not without leaving any evidence of their presence. He should have prepared more sleeping gas, but he was more focused on getting Tantei-kun to safety that he couldn't stay long enough to do what he originally planned.

There were however, a few things that bothered him related to the heist that weren't about the detective. It was mostly the fact that Snake seemed to have used the same technique that those forgers that were after the Phantom Lady used. He didn't know whether or not it was an uncanny coincidence, or if the forgers were actually working with those people who were after Kid. On the other hand, at least it was something he was familiar with. He had barely seconds to spare when it was Aoko who was with him.

But the most important thing of all was that no one got hurt.

"You mentioned that child detective, Young Master. Why was he at the heist?"

"Well, for one, he's not a child. Not anymore." Kaito sighed quietly. "And two, I wasn't actually expecting him to show up, so there are a few problems there."

Jii-chan nodded stiffly. "He is suspicious." It wasn't a guess.

"He is. He's asking about Snake and why Kid's being targeted." Kaito leaned tiredly on his arms and grumbled. "He really hasn't learned any manners from being seven again."

"Will you tell him?"

Kaito shrugged, allowing his eyelids to slip closed. "I don't want to, you know. But…" He stopped, opening his eyes again. "I suppose I owe him an explanation, at least. It's my fault he got into this mess anyways."

They each put a certain amount of trust in each other after all. He wasn't worried about letting his secret slip to the detective, but it's the consequences of letting him know that was the problem. As of now, Kudou Shinichi wasn't involved with Kaitou Kid heists at all, and he didn't know what could happen if they crossed their thin line of rivalry and friendship. However, he didn't want Meitantei to get involved. He already had enough people to worry about, and he preferred if the detective was out of trouble. Or at least, a little less trouble in addition to the crazy things that seemed to happen whenever he was around.

He also sort of promised him he'd explain the situation. He was sort of beginning to regret that. Kaito had no doubt that Shinichi's detective instincts would jump in right at the mention of homicide. He couldn't talk about his father, or about Pandora.

"Young Master, if I may?" Jii-chan interrupted his thoughts. "The detective, you've worked with him in the past, haven't you?"

Kaito nodded. "What about it?"

"And," Jii-chan continued. "He lets you go during these times, correct?"

That was true as well. It seemed like Tantei-kun was always pretty willing to let him go whenever they worked together to bring down a group of terrorists or save a dog. It's not like he wasn't grateful for it, it was after all, a fair tradeoff for the help they gave each other. Even though it did seem a little unbalanced at times.

"Don't say it like he's doing it out of pity, Jii-chan." Kaito rolled his eyes. "I just think he wants me to owe him."

You'd think that saving his life a few times would be enough. He's done enough favors for the detective to pay off a lifetime of debt.

"It is getting more and more dangerous. I wouldn't forgive myself if anything happened to you, Young Master Kaito." Jii-chan said solemnly. "If the young detective really is honorable enough to only pursue you during heists, then he would most likely understand your motives."

"Well Meitantei is an odd one, that's for sure." Kaito said, resting his chin in his palm. "But I don't think of him as my rival for nothing." The only suitable rival for an unpredictable phantom thief would be an unpredictable detective.

However, it was surprising to hear such words of trust coming from Jii-chan, who was always wary of Tantei-kun, even when he was in his little shrunken form. He would have thought that Jii-chan would refuse to have Kaito tell Tantei-kun anything, especially about Kid and his goals.

"I believe that this is what your father would have done, in this situation." Jii-chan bowed his head low, his glasses shining from the light of the bar. "Perhaps it would do some good, for you to finally tell someone."

What Dad would have done. If it were his father in the same situation, would he be willing to tell a detective about Kid? No, if it were really his father, this situation wouldn't have happened. Dad was a better magician than he is and was probably an even better thief. But hypothetically speaking…

Maybe he would. Maybe that was what he'd want Kaito to do now.

He'd been keeping his identity a secret for so long, from Aoko, her father, Hakuba, everyone. There was never a moment where he could truly be both Kuroba Kaito and Kaitou Kid at the same time. He was always one or another. Perhaps that was also why he helped little Tantei-kun protect his identity. They were a bit like kindred spirits, in that case.

If anyone were to understand how Kaito felt, it would be Tantei-kun.

He stood up, momentarily surprising Jii-chan. He might regret this decision in the future, but at the same time, he might not. But Kuroba Kaito didn't do things half-halfheartedly, that's for sure.

Kaito grabbed his things and checked the time on his watch. If he went now, he'd probably get to Beika a little after sundown.

"Young Master?"

He threw the door open and waved back at his assistant. "Thanks for the advice, Jii-chan! If Aoko asks for me, give an excuse alright?" And he bolted out the door, the bell still chiming even as it closed shut with a click.

Jii-chan could only stare at the closed door with confusion.

* * *

And that brought Kaito here. On a tree in front of the Kudou mansion, dressed up in his full white Kid regalia. The sun had set rather quickly as he flew from Ekoda to Beika via hang glider and the approaching evening darkness provided him with some much needed cover as well. Meitantei didn't seem to have a lot of neighbors, but the Professor and odd little girl next door could obviously notice something if he went as Kuroba Kaito. He had briefly considered disguising himself as the young detective as well, but he quickly decided against the idea when he contemplated the various problems that could occur if he went down that route.

But so far, he's gone unnoticed.

He worked on picking the lock on the window, which was surprisingly easy considering how high class the place looked. Maybe he should advise Tantei-kun to invest in some better security. He entered the room, making sure to cover up whatever he could have left behind when arriving.

If he remembered correctly from the floor plans he had memorized a while ago, the room he entered through the window was Tantei-kun's room. It certainly showed a lot of his personality. Not to mention it was messy. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in a while, judging from the pile of clothes that seemed to have been thrown into the corner of the room along with whatever else seemed to be living in there.

Huh, he never really took Meitantei as the type to have such a messy room. Many people considered Kaito to live in a mess, but at least his room looked better than this. After all, he had to make his room look as nice as possible in the possible scenario of Aoko barging in to clean it only to find some incriminating evidence of him being Kid. No way was he going to let that happen.

Other than the messiness, the room looked like any other teenager's room. And for some reason, Kaito felt like he was invading Tantei-kun's privacy or something and the fact that he practically broke into the house didn't help. Maybe Tantei-kun could find it in himself to forgive Kaito, and maybe let him go without any major bruising.

Leaving Tantei-kun's room, the first thing Kaito noticed was that the place was huge. As in, far too large for a single person to be living in by themselves. Quickly, he took a peek in one of the rooms across the hall, noting that it looked like it hadn't been used for ages. There was no dust, which meant it was frequently cleaned, but there was no other indication that that someone lived here. No personal things or anything put out of place. It was honestly a little creepy since the only part of the house that looked like it contained any life was Tantei-kun's room.

Kaito continued through the empty house, unable to find the high school detective anywhere. Where was he? Was he even at home at this time? Maybe he was at the Professor's place, or maybe with that childhood friend of his? He might have been called in for another murder case, even.

Eventually his final stop in the mansion was the library. He figured if Meitantei was anywhere in the house, it would be in here.

When he stepped in, it took all of Kaito's willpower not to gape in amazement at the large expanse of books in the Kudou library. Just how many books were in here?

The library itself was dark, bathed in the natural dim light of the outside through the windows. It made Kaito kind of regret not coming at when the moon was out, since it seemed like the large skylight above was just built for moon watching. It must make the library look even more beautiful when it was out.

He was so tempted to just grab a book just for the sake of it that he almost completely forgot his reason for coming here until he spotted slight movement from the corner of his eye.

The chair at the desk in the middle of the library spun around, revealing Tantei-kun sitting and looking quite bored in it.

"Yo, Kid." He waved indifferently. "I've been waiting for you."

"Not long, I hope?" he joked, taking a few steps closer.

"I've mostly been thinking." Tantei-kun said, tapping his finger against the desk. "You could have used the front door, you know. I would have let you in."

"And miss the opportunity of going into your room?" Kaito replied back. "Which is, by the way, very messy. When was the last time you cleaned it?"

Tantei-kun looked away modestly and responded with a low mutter that Kaito had to strain his ears to hear. "Ran usually cleans it, but she's been busy with karate practice lately…"

Ah, that was to be expected. It wouldn't be a surprise to him if Ran was the one who cleaned the entire house while Tantei-kun was off on his cases. Even Aoko had helped clean his house a few times in the past, but at least he helped her with it.

He kind of wanted to laugh, but that'd be a little rude.

"Anyways," he said instead as he sat himself atop the desk, grinning at the miffed expression the other gave him at the action. "Let's chat, shall we? What has your brilliant mind come up with in the last twenty-four hours?"

Meitantei let out a silent sigh, pushing himself out of the chair and taking a few steps around the room. Kaito watched as his slim fingers traced the edges of several books before he turned around to face him. "From what the Inspector told me, and from experience, I know your real targets are only stones, ones that hold a background and a mystery of some kind. All the other times you steal is to issue a challenge or to clear your name."

"And?" Kid gestured for him to continue. "What else did you deduce, detective?"

"You're looking for something, aren't you?" And he hit the nail right on the head. "I've seen the patterns. You always seem to hold up your targets to the moonlight and return them when nothing happens. So what _are_ you looking for?"

Kaito pulled down on his hat. "My, my, what a claim. What if I'm just doing this for fun? Maybe humiliating the authorities is my pastime?"

"Unlikely." Meitantei shot down the notion quickly. "You may get a kick out of playing tricks, but you take your thievery as seriously as I do a detective. I was thinking, and the only conclusion I'm able to reach, is that this Snake person from last night is looking for the same thing you are. And that something is important enough to take a life over." He grimaced at the last sentence.

Kaito kept his face unchanging. Honestly, it already seemed like Tantei-kun knew everything already aside from a few details.

"Because it's life itself, if you could call it that." he responded languidly. He looked down at the table, noting the small wood patterns on the surface.

Tantei-kun blinked at him for a few seconds. "Life itself? What does that-"

"Tsk tsk." He waved a finger at him. "I'm not giving any hints, Meitantei. Make do with what I'm willing to share as that is as far as I'm going to say about the subject."

Meitantei looked extremely unappeased, but gave up soon after, sighing as he walked around the room again. "Fine," he said curtly. "We'll talk about this: How often do shady characters visit your heists like yesterday?"

"Oh, I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe a few times. Maybe a lot of times. They're quite the fans, don't you think?"

Tantei-kun narrowed his eyes. "Die-hard, if you ask me. Inspector Nakamori said that they were sparse in the beginning of your revival, but had gradually increased as time went on."

Kaito cursed inwardly. He thought it would at least be kept a secret from the Inspector. He figured that what happened at last night's heist was a bit too much to keep it on the down low from the taskforce. He wondered if they saw the spray of bullet casings along with the sounds of gunshots from way down the tower.

"It's hard being popular." He replied with a tight smile.

"And from the news report, it looks like they haven't been caught either." Tantei-kun pointed to the neatly folded up newspaper sitting on the desk a few inches away from Kaito's left hand. "I figured out what that pink gas was. Sleeping gas, wasn't it?"

"Correct." Kaito nodded. "Looks like it wasn't enough to keep them knocked out until the police arrived."

"It's not like you to make a mistake, Kid."

"It was overlooked on my part." He looked away shamefully. "I didn't expect you to be there last night."

Meitantei looked back at him, a puzzled expression on his features. "You didn't?" Kaito nodded again. "Why _wouldn't_ I be there?"

"I thought you wouldn't come since the sender wasn't actually me." he said. "Unfortunately, this was the first heist since you grew up again. I thought you wouldn't be interested anymore." And no, he did not sound like a petulant child right now.

Meitantei stared at him like he was crazy. Which was very rude. "What?" he sounded completely baffled and a little offended. "You thought I was just going to just sit there while someone uses your name to do who knows what?"

He kind of did, but he wasn't going to tell him.

Instead, he adjusted his top hat again and smirked. "Well I'm glad you wanted to defend my honor, Tantei-kun. Really, I'm touched."

"Shut up." Tantei-kun griped, turning his attention on the shelves of books next to him. It didn't help hide the little tint of embarrassment on his face that Kaito noticed. "…You seemed to have had everything planned out well, though."

"Well, since I found out you were there, I had to make a few quick adjustments to the initial plan. That was why I went there early to check things out and prepare." Kaito said. "I replaced the gasoline of the motorcycle with something special I cooked up that's supposed to turn into sleeping gas when burned and let out through the exhaust pipe. I was planning on getting caught and then using the gas on them."

"But then I was there and fell for it instead." Tantei-kun was probably thinking about the handcuff thing. His face went from unimpressed to downright glaring at Kaito. "Wait, you knew about that and didn't bother to warn me?!"

Kaito held his hands up, just in case a soccer ball came flying straight for his face. "I knew you'd notice but I didn't think you would have fallen for it! And when Snake came I couldn't go through with the entire thing because I had to get you out of there."

Not to mention it w _as_ a little funny seeing the detective's face when the handcuff came around his wrist, and Kaito himself couldn't help but laugh a little at the irony when it happened.

"So it's my fault." Meitantei stated plainly, his eyebrows tightly knit together. "That they got away."

Kaito shook his head. "Well, we couldn't have known for sure. Besides, they probably had an escape route planned, since they obviously came in from a different floor than the first floor."

"So I shouldn't have gone to the heist then." The detective crossed his arms, lying on the bookcase behind him. He stared at his shoes for a while before raising his head up and directing his attention back to Kaito.

"No!" Kaito stood up from the desk while Meitantei watched him with regretful eyes. "I'm glad you came! It wasn't an official heist but I'm glad to see you're doing well, since… You got caught up in that stuff." Involving those scary people in black and the weird top secret case he was supposedly on.

Meitantei smiled bitterly. "Still am caught up in it, actually. There are still a lot of loose ends that need tying up." He paused. "There's… actually something else I was thinking about. Regarding yesterday."

Kaito looked on silently, allowing the other to go on.

"That thing I was involved in. I think there might be a connection."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean," Meitantei scratched his neck, struggling for the words. "It's just a theory, but from what I've seen last night, I think… That Snake guy might be related to Them."

As in, whatever group of people that were involved in Tantei-kun becoming a little kid again? Then again, the deduction made somewhat sense . It's hard to believe that two rather large scale criminal groups could coexist in a place like Japan without having some kind of connection to each other.

"Well, coincidence or not, there are still things I have to confirm on my own so-"

"Hold on," Kaito cut in sharply. "What do you mean 'on my own'?"

Meitantei looked back at him as if Kaito had blurted out something incredibly stupid. "Well obviously, if I'm going to be able to catch Snake and whoever else is after you, I'm going to need to do some information digging myself."

"Oh no." Kaito said, shaking his head. "That's not going to be happening any time soon." He was definitely not going to put him in any more danger.

"What are you talking about? Are you telling me to just ignore it? I'm a detective!" The other glared at him.

Kaito glared back. "And _your_ job is to solve murder cases. Not help out wanted thieves."

"Do you think I can just let this go now that you told me that these are dangerous people you're dealing with?!" Tantei-kun raised his voice. "You can't expect me to do nothing!"

He watched as the detective stood stiffly with his fists clenched tightly at his sides. He's never seen the other direct such a livid expression at him. Of course, there have been bouts of frustration during a few heists, but it was never this raw.

This is exactly what he didn't want.

But if it meant that no one else would get involved, he didn't care if the other came to hate him because of it.

And that's what gave Kaito the ability to say his next words.

" _You're_ not doing _anything_ , Tantei-kun. Not now, not ever."

He didn't know for whose sake he said those words to, the angry detective in front of him or his own peace of mind?

* * *

 **The pains of writing slow developing kaishin... You just really want to write the later scenes.**


	7. Chapter 7

**I originally wanted to add a scene or two more to this chapter, but it sort of got out of hand and got really long so I'll just end it here and include it in the next chapter. Other than that, Shinichi's kind of an idiot here.**

 **Anyways, I really appreciate it everyone who has read up to now and put up with my attempts at an update schedule.**

* * *

The next few days were not kind on Shinichi's mood. At school he would barely acknowledge anyone except Ran, to whom he only responded to out of obligation. After school he would just head straight home and spend the rest of his day in his library and trying to read a nice mystery novel or two to relax before ultimately failing because he just ended thinking about that argument he had with Kid days prior.

It was the same thing day in and day out for the next couple of days, and even Ran had gotten overly concerned and tried to talk to him about it yesterday.

" _Shinichi, I'm worried." She had said with a frown on her face and arms crossed. "You're not paying attention in class and you barely talk to anyone anymore. Did something happen?"_

" _Nothing." He had replied back, earning the evil eye from his childhood friend. "Okay. It's just a case that's been bothering me."_

" _Geez," Ran sighed. "And here I thought something happened at the Kid heist." Shinichi almost choked on air, causing Ran to stiffen up in worry again. "Are you sure you're okay?"_

 _Shinichi nodded quickly. "Fine, fine. It's just a difficult case, no big deal. Once I figure stuff out I'll be back to my usual self in no time." He tried to smile, but he wasn't sure if he got it down properly._

 _She didn't look very convinced but reluctantly accepted his answer. He hated lying to Ran, but Kid's situation wasn't something he could just easily disclose to others. He had to keep everything he knew about Kid, outside of what the public already knew, a secret._

" _Okay…" She still looked anxious, and Shinichi felt something in his heart break when he saw a familiar looking loneliness in her eyes. "But promise me that you'll talk to me if you need to. I'll always be here."_

" _Yeah, I promise." Shinichi said quietly. "Sorry Ran."_

He'd have to make it up to her, once he figured out what to do about Kid. It killed him every time he made Ran sad, but this was something he was going to settle on his own. It had to be.

But he could barely concentrate on doing anything as his thoughts tended to wander back to a certain annoying phantom thief whenever he tried to think.

Who does Kid think he is anyways? Who gave him the right to forbid Shinichi from solving crimes and doing his job? He's a detective, and he sure as hell wasn't going to stand by when there are criminals out there who still aren't behind bars. He could put Kid's offenses in the back burner for now, as there were more urgent things out there, like those people after the thief's life.

He could still remember their conversation-turned-argument that night as if it were just yesterday. Just thinking about made it made him angry. Kid was incessantly insistent on trying to make Shinichi give up on catching Snake and whoever else was after his life, while Shinichi himself argued back about the ethics of being a detective. Things escalated from there and it ended with an untimely smoke bomb to the face and a missing Kid.

But it wasn't like Kid could actually stop him from doing what he wanted, which was why he was now walking back home with a thick stack of files that detailed every single Kaitou Kid heist from his debut to his revival to the fake heist a few days ago tucked away in his bag. It hadn't taken much effort to obtain them. He phoned in to Inspector Nakamori yesterday evening and went straight to the Ekoda police station in the afternoon, as it only took a quick train ride from Beika to get there. The Inspector and the rest of the taskforce were up to their noses in work while the entirety of Division Two was in disarray over that last heist. He even got turned away by the officers when he tried asking if Inspector Nakamori was available.

So technically, he didn't receive the files from anyone. He just sneaked into the office and made copies of Kid's criminal file and left with them hidden away in his bag, but no one saw him, so he should be in the clear. Besides, he _did_ speak to the man in charge about it and had gotten a reluctant okay so he wasn't doing anything _illegal_ per se. And with how much he helped out with the police, he was already considered one of their own, so it's not like making a few extra copies was going to harm anyone.

What he planned to do was compare the police files with the personal file his father gathered up for some more information and clarify a few things for himself. He didn't think his father's records would have much about Kid's more recent endeavors however, given how it was rarely updated because of his parents rarely stayed in Japan for long.

And then began his next course of action, as he rang the doorbell of the Professor's house and was greeted by the man himself.

"Shinichi!" the Professor greeted him with a smile. "Did Ai-kun call you for a checkup?"

He shook his head, stepping in and carefully taking off his shoes and took of his coat to hang on the coat rack. "No, not today, but I do have something to ask of her." Looking up, he realized that the Professor wasn't the only one in the living room, and was greeted with the familiar grinning faces of three seven year olds who were gathered around a small piece of paper.

"Shinichi-oniisan!" Ayumi-chan was the first one to greet him. Mitsuhiko and Genta both followed after.

"Yo. Trying to solve one of the Professor's riddles?" he asked, peeking over them to take a look at the paper.

Mitsuhiko nodded. "I think we figured out some of it but-"

"It's way too hard!" Genta interrupted loudly, rolling onto his back and holding his stomach. "I want to eat eel..."

"Genta-kun! Don't give up so easily!" Mitsuhiko scolded.

Next to him, Ayumi-chan nodded vigorously. "We're the Detective Boys! We can solve anything!"

It looked like Ayumi-chan's pep-talk had helped, because Genta rose back up and focused some of his attention back to the riddle while Mitsuhiko began to explain one part of it that was related to the name of a bird.

Shinichi looked on with a feeling of nostalgia mixed with loneliness. Up until a few months ago, he was still one of them. He could still vaguely remember Haibara's suggestion on telling them the truth. He was still on the fence about it, and he kept putting it back further and further since there weren't any good opportunities for him to tell them, considering how busy he was lately with the amount of cases he received and now with the recent Kid issue.

"Shinichi, didn't you say you needed to talk to Ai-kun?" the Professor went up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder. "She's down in the basement."

Taking one last look at the kids, who had a glint in their eyes that showed they were _so close_ to solving the puzzle and all they needed was just one more connecting thought to figure it all out, he turned away to head towards the basement where the little scientist did all her research in.

"Haibara," he said, opening the door and shedding light into the tiny dark room, revealing a small figure sitting in front of a brightly lit computer. Closing the door and flipping on the light switch, he said, "You should stop doing research in the dark. It's bad for the eyes."

The girl spun her chair around slowly as she took off her headphones. "You're four days early for your next check-up, Kudou-kun." She said, ignoring his comment. "What brings you here today?"

"Well," he began. "There's something I sort of need you to look into."

Haibara made a motion with her hand, gesturing for him to keep going.

"I wanted to ask if you can find any information about Kaitou Kid's previous heist targets." Shinichi continued, absently running a hand through his hair.

The little girl raised a thin eyebrow. "What brought this all of a sudden?" She paused momentarily before her mouth twitched up in an amused smile. "I thought you weren't interested in Kid anymore?"

Shinichi looked away from her. Why did she always have to use his words against him like this? Why did he have to endure this kind of suffering? "That doesn't matter. I just want to ask if you can look into the jewels he's stolen in the past."

She looked pointedly at him for a little bit before sighing, smile wiped off her face. "Don't tell me something happened at the heist?"

He froze momentarily. It was almost scary how intuitive Haibara was at times.

"A lot of things happened." Shinichi didn't elaborate. "But there are people who are after Kid's life."

"After a heartful thief like him?"

"He said –well, suggested- that it was because he was looking for the same thing they were. I was thinking that it must be important enough for him to be targeted."

"So that's why you wanted me to look into his previous targets." She said. "To see if there's any connection between the gems he's stolen."

"Yeah." Shinichi responded, shrugging his shoulders. "Police reports don't exactly elaborate the history of the targets very much."

"Is there anything specific you're looking for? For example, type of gem or previous ownership and such?" Haibara asked.

"Well," Shinichi began. "He said that the gem he was looking for was 'life itself', whatever that means."

Haibara hummed quietly to herself. "Interesting. He told you this himself?"

Shinichi nodded and attempted to give the girl as little details as possible in fear of her using them to her advantage in the future. "We talked for a while."

"And so you think Kid is looking for a gem related to life." Haibara restated, tucking a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "And that this supposed life jewel is worth killing over."

It was a situation that they were no strangers to.

He breathed out a sigh. "That's what I'm thinking. He kind of vaguely hinted at what it was, but it wasn't specific enough. It's not much to start on."

She smiled to herself, as if she heard something amusing. "Life itself." She repeated aloud. "A farfetched goal for a man like him."

Shinichi let out a huff of laughter. "It's Kid." he said. "His entire existence is unbelievable." Unbelievably irritating.

The corners of Haibara's mouth twitched up. "Well, he does seem to have a knack for doing the impossible. How many times has he dived out a window to save your life?"

"That was only a few times, okay?" Shinichi rolled his eyes. "Anyways, I want you to look into the old targets to narrow down a list of potential candidates. It might help with catching Snake and whoever else might be involved with this."

"Snake?" Haibara frowned, her playful demeanor hastily extinguished as her eyes narrowed and she tightly gripped the handle of her seat. "Is that a codename?"

"Seems like it." Shinichi answered. "He tried to use the fake heist as a trap to take Kid's life. I was also wondering if his name rang any bells."

"I barely knew anyone outside of my division." She replied, voice stiff. "But if he was involved with… Them, he wouldn't be so foolish as to show himself at a public event like a Kid heist after what happened to the organization."

That much was true. Any logical thinking would lead to that conclusion, but Shinichi couldn't help but think there was some sort of connection.

Shinichi leaned against the wall, drawing in a long inhale. "But what if…" His breath caught in his throat. "What if it was something that constituted as important enough to do so?"

"As in, something they wouldn't risk letting go, even if it meant revealing the remaining members?" Haibara scoffed, shaking her head. "That's unlikely, Kudou-kun. They're extremely careful with everything they do. And besides, 'Snake' isn't a part of the naming scheme, as far as I'm aware."

Then it was just him that felt like there was something a bit deeper than just competition over who found what first. But he just didn't have enough information to be able to make a clear deduction. If only Kid would tell him more, then he could actually see if there _was_ a connection between Snake and the Black Organization other than just taste in clothing and guns. He thought about the stack of files in his bag outside in the living room and felt a sudden urge to go through all of them right this instance for _anything_ that might give him a lead.

Haibara relaxed slightly, watching him for a few seconds before releasing a long sigh and turned away from him to face the computer again. "I don't know what happened between you and Kaitou Kid, but…" she started, fingers clacking on the keyboard below. "Give me some time, and I'll compile whatever information I find onto a flash drive for you."

"Thanks…" he felt the tension in his shoulders being released, and it left him with a tired, groggy feeling.

"Oh and by the way," Haibara turned her head to him, a smirk of amusement on her lips. "You should tell Mr. Heartful Thief to use your front door next time instead of sneaking into your room through the window. If it were anyone else looking, they would have gotten the wrong impression."

Shinichi blinked twice. "What?" he stopped, a hand came up to scratch his neck. "Well, I did tell him to use the front door because I would have let him in…" But what did she mean by the wrong impression? Unless, of course, she meant that people would have called the cops if they saw Kaitou Kid breaking into his house. Although he'd at least give the thief the benefit of doubt that he wouldn't be careless enough to be seen by other people while dressed as an internationally wanted jewel thief.

"Nevermind." She gave him an annoyed look before returning to her research. "Wait outside; I'll be out in a moment."

He nodded slowly, still confused on what she was going on about, but listened to her nonetheless and left her to her business.

Upon climbing the stairs back up to the living room, Shinichi's ears were assaulted with a high pitched squeals of the kids as they apparently were playing some new game the Professor made. Quietly, he sat himself down on the couch opposite of where the action was taking place and waited for Haibara to finish her research.

And then a white mug was thrust into his vision, along with the scent of freshly brewed coffee, just as he was about to close his eyes and think. He traced the mug and the hand holding it back to the Professor.

He smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Professor." He took a sip of the nice warm drink. The Professor smiled before telling him that he was going to go back upstairs, which Shinichi acknowledged with a nod.

He let the warmth seep into his hands as slowly drank.

"Shinichi-san?" came Mitsuhiko's voice.

"Hm?" Shinichi looked back at him, who, along with the other two, looked strangely concerned. The game was momentarily paused. "What's up?"

"Is there something wrong?" Mitsuhiko asked.

"Are you hungry?" Genta added in. "Being hungry always gets me in a bad mood."

"But you're always hungry, Genta-kun!" Mitsuhiko shot back.

Shinichi blinked, slightly taken aback. Did he look that bad? It was one thing for Ran to notice, but when the kids began to notice then he was doing a terrible job hiding his troubles. He tried to give a reassuring smile anyways. "I'm alright. I've been working on a hard case lately."

The boys instantly brightened up at the statement, spouting out things like "Can we help?" or "Tell us! Tell us!". Ayumi-chan, however, still looked at him with dubious eyes.

"But Shinichi-oniisan looks different when thinking about a case." She said. "Since whenever he is, he looks like Conan-kun."

Shinichi almost dropped his mug. He froze for a slight moment, realizing that the kids were _very_ close to figuring out who he was. They even found out about how his mannerisms didn't seem to change from the transition from Conan to Shinichi.

"Ayumi-chan is right." Mitsuhiko nodded, quickly regaining his composure from earlier. "Shinichi-san always gets this kind of look whenever he's solving a mystery, just like Conan-kun."

"So that means that you're lying, Shinichi-niichan!" Genta pointed at him, looking proud of himself as if he had made the deduction himself.

Shinichi kind of felt like he the culprit at one of his murder cases.

"My mom told me that when someone does that weird eyebrow thing, it means they had a fight with their lover!" Ayumi-chan exclaimed, looking scarily enthusiastic.

Weird eyebrow thing? Wait, _lover_?

He nearly choked. "Uh, hold on, Ayumi-chan-"

"Does that mean you had a fight with Ran-san?" Mitsuhiko.

Well, it wasn't really a _fight_ so… "N-No, not Ran."

"Well if it isn't than who did get in a fight with?" Genta.

"Wait, you guys-"

"You have to make up with them, Shinichi-oniisan! It's not good to fight!" Ayumi-chan.

He wasn't going to win against three fervent children, was he?

He sighed heavily. "It, uh, wasn't with Ran. It was with…" An irksome phantom thief. "Ha-Hattori."

"Heiji-niichan?" Genta repeated. "What'd he do?"

Shinichi shrugged. "Nothing really. We just argued over a case." Sort of.

"What was the case about?" Mitsuhiko asked right after.

Shinichi looked back at the Detective Boys, each looking very much interested in what he had to say. He took a quick peak back to the door that lead to Haibara's research room and prayed that she would come out soon so he could get out of this uncomfortable situation being interrogated by three seven year olds. Unfortunately, she didn't. Of course. It was like she could sense his misery and prolong it however she wanted to.

"It wasn't really about the case _exactly_." He answered, hoping that they would be satisfied with that.

They weren't.

"Well? Why did you argue?" Ayumi-chan was practically right up in his face, grabbing onto his pant leg and tugging incessantly. It almost knocked the coffee out of his hand. "Shinichi-oniisan."

"He…" Shinichi sighed again. It wouldn't be that bad to tell them a little bit, right? It wasn't like he was specifically saying that it was Kid. "Er, he had this case he was on, and he was talking to me about it. I wanted to help out, so I offered to give him a hand but then he got angry and we just started yelling at each other."

"So you wanted to help him but he didn't let you?" Mitsuhiko summarized Shinichi's little dilemma in a few words.

Shinichi nodded. "I have no idea why." He took a large gulp of coffee, remembering the argument yet again. "We've never really competed in a serious sense so I don't know why he's so intent on doing things by himself."

The three children nodded in acknowledgement, their previous game now forgotten as they became completely immersed with what Shinichi was saying.

Shinichi continued. "It's not like solving things on his own makes him better than me." Shinichi rolled his eyes. "He has some kind of weird, displaced pride or something."

Kid was prideful, that he knew. Someone who could jump across buildings and fly through the air while facing a team of trained police officers just had to be prideful. But at the same time, he was strangely humble to the point where it seemed like he was only mocking. Of course, that had nothing to do with the argument from that night. That was just Kid being his irritating and conceited self. Why else would he think Shinichi couldn't handle a few criminals with guns, despite the part he played in taking down a large-scale criminal organization? And if they _were_ a part of the organization, then it was even better.

The kids looked at each other for a few moments, hands coming up to their chins in a classic thinking pose as they apparently attempted to think of a solution to Shinichi's problems. Ayumi-chan looked particularly deep in thought as she furrowed her brows. She always seemed so much more invested in these sorts of things over the boys.

Able to enjoy the brief moment of silence, Shinichi took another drink of the coffee that was starting to get cold. He allowed the children to contemplate on their own, as this was much safer than say, a murder or crime of some sort.

Then, the three turned away from him and huddled together, whispering to each other. Except Genta wasn't exactly the best at keeping his voice down. Shinichi was only able to hear a few bits of conversation that slipped, which didn't make too much sense when he tried to piece them together.

He looked on with slight amusement until they turned back around, looking exceptionally proud of themselves.

"We figured it out!" Genta exclaimed happily, a satisfied grin stretched across his face.

Shinichi raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Figured what out?"

"Why Heiji-oniisan got mad at you!" Ayumi-chan added, like she was saying something as obvious as the sky being blue. "It's because he cares about you!"

"What?" Shinichi said, completely and utterly confused.

"We think Hattori-san was angry at you because he didn't want you to get involved, Shinichi-san." Mitsuhiko clarified, but Shinichi kept looking at the three of them as if they had suddenly fused into one single being.

"You two are best friends, right? So it's obvious he got mad 'cause he didn't want you to be in trouble." Genta nodded to himself. "That's what I'd do."

"And that's what Conan-kun did." Mitsuhiko piped in with a small frown. "Conan-kun didn't want us to get hurt, so he'd always rush off by himself and tell us not to help."

Shinichi stayed silent, finding truth in the freckled boy's words. It was true that he always went off alone whenever something dangerous came up that could potentially threaten the kids, but that was because he was the adult in that situation. He had to protect them and keep them out of as much danger as possible. He may have been the same age physically, but he was still responsible for their wellbeing, since they were so keen on playing detective no matter what he told them.

"But we really wanted to help Conan-kun too, you know!" Ayumi-chan practically jumped with how much energy she had. "We didn't want him to get hurt either, so we know how you feel right now, Shinichi-oniisan!"

Was that how it was? The reason why Kid absolutely didn't want his help wasn't because he didn't trust in Shinichi's abilities, but because he was worried about Shinichi's safety? The realization hit Shinichi like a tidal wave, washing over him. He should have known. After all, Kid always had his "no one gets hurt" policy, and there were also all those times where Kid came to his aid when there really wasn't a reason for him to do so. That's why Kid had always pretty much worked alone. He didn't want anyone to be in danger because of him.

Shinichi wanted to hit himself. Of course that's what Kid would have thought. Even Shinichi himself had made the same decision of keeping as little outsiders as possible from the organization. That was even the entire reason he took on the identity of Conan in the first place, because he didn't want Ran or anyone else to get hurt.

And that's what Kid wanted as well.

"Shinichi-san?" Mitsuhiko's voice brought him back down to earth.

He blinked a few times, as if every time he did, it unveiled more and more of the truth he sought. He finally realized what he had to do.

He grinned down at the three children. "Thanks you guys. I think I finally understand." He gave them all pats on the head while Ayumi-chan giggled, Mitsuhiko smiled back, and Genta flashed him the peace sign. "I'm glad you three wanted to help Conan whenever trouble came up, I'm sure he understands that as well. He's really thankful that you three are his friends." His smile faded into something a little more somber.

"It's weird." Ayumi-chan tilted her head curiously. "When Shinichi-oniisan says that…"

"It's like Conan's saying it." Genta finished, eyes wide.

The kids looked at each other briefly and nodded in agreement.

"It's almost as if Kudou-kun _is_ Edogawa-kun, isn't it?" And Shinichi could recognize that tone of voice anywhere, belonging to one resident seven year old scientist.

Shinichi turned his head stiffly at Haibara, who had on a look that was a mix of wanting to laugh and wanting to frown. Was she really doing this right now? He hadn't even prepared!

"H-Hai-"

"Haibara-san!" Mitsuhiko exclaimed, suddenly brightening up significantly. "What do you mean?"

"Oh nothing." Haibara shook her head slightly, her voice as unexplainable as her current expression. "Kudou-kun just reminds me of Edogawa-kun, that's all." She sent him a look Shinichi was unable to describe.

"It's true that they do…" Mitsuhiko trailed off.

Ayumi-chan sprung into action. "That would mean that we can come to crime scenes, right? If Conan-kun's Shinichi-oniisan!"

The other girl shook her head. "I don't think so. Edogawa-kun wouldn't dare allow it." She kept her gaze straight on Shinichi. "Right, Kudou-kun?"

"Uh." Shinichi's words caught in his throat. "Y-Yeah! Crime scenes are off limits, but if I ever get stumped on a case, I'll turn to you three, okay?" He forced on a smile, hoping to throw off the potential suspicion and appease the children. Haibara frowned at him, and he keenly ignored it.

"Really!?" All three of them spoke at once, their eyes sparkling with childish excitement.

"Yeah. I promise."

The kids all cheered, spouting off things they could potentially do to help Shinichi solve crimes. He looked back at Haibara, who still had an odd expression on her face. Instead, she raised her hand up and gestured for him to go over to her.

Taking a glance back at the kids, who were now talking amongst themselves, Shinichi finished the rest of his now cold coffee and went over to the little girl.

She looked at him silently, and he crouched down to her height with a quiet exhale. Haibara, of course, looked unimpressed at his considerate gesture, like she always did.

She then pushed a tiny hand into Shinichi's, handing him a flash drive. "Here. The information you wanted." She spoke quietly, making sure the Detective Boys didn't listen in. "Remember what I said about using flash drives."

Shinichi nodded. "Right," he replied back. "Don't be connected to wi-fi and delete everything afterwards."

It was a set of rules that Haibara had drilled into him out of either her own paranoia or concern for Shinichi's wellbeing. Nevertheless, Shinichi had long ago learned to listen to her demands, lest she did something unspeakable to him.

"Good." She sounded satisfied enough, but her eyes were still cold and piercing. "Need I say anything more about the kids again?"

Shinichi smiled weakly. "I know. I'm not trying to make excuses, but I have a lot of things to deal with at the moment."

"Right." Haibara sneered. "Kaitou Kid."

"Yeah. Kid." He shifted his eyes back to his bag full of case files next to the sofa and gazed at it longingly. After his previous revelation, he really wanted to look into the files and the data Haibara had given him, but he knew he had to at least wait until he was at home. It wasn't going to take long to get there, but there were still things he had to do here before he left.

Haibara let out a deep sigh from next to him. "Fine then, Kudou-kun." she said. "Go."

"What?" Shinichi turned back to Haibara. "Really?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yes. If you're that invested in Kid, fine by me. I'm sure he's thrilled." Shinichi kind of doubted that. "But we're continuing _t_ _his_ ," she flicked her wrist in the direction of the Detective Boys. "Later."

Shinichi laughed awkwardly and moved his arm to perform a salute with two fingers. "Yes, ma'am." She shooed him away as she walked towards the other three kids, and then he was able laugh a little more naturally.

He went over and gathered his bag and coat and headed to the door.

"Are you leaving, Shinichi-niichan?" Genta asked.

He looked back, making sound of confirmation and said, "I wasn't lying when I said I had a case to work on."

"Shinichi-oniisan!" Ayumi-chan called out, waving her arms. "Make sure to make up with Heiji-oniisan!"

Haibara, who was speaking to a very happy looking Mitsuhiko, looked in his direction with an incredulous look on her face. He decided to ignore that, too.

Instead, he waved back to them and shut the door behind him.

And so began his next course of action.

* * *

 **I have a pretty bad habit of accidentally adding a bunch more scenes than I initially planned so now the plot now progresses at the rate of a snail. 7 chapters in and we're still in the pretty early beginnings of this thing.**


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